Lax

How to spell lax

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce lax

What does lax mean?

1. adjectiveNot strict or careful enough; loose in enforcing rules or standards.

Lax in a sentence

• The manager was far too lax about checking expense claims.

• Security at the warehouse had grown lax over the years.

Where does lax come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This short word comes straight from the Latin laxus, which meant 'loose', 'wide', or 'slack', the opposite of something pulled tight. The same root gave Latin the verb laxare, meaning 'to loosen or relax', which is also the direct ancestor of the English word 'relax' and of 'lease' and 'release', all carrying that core idea of slackening or letting go. English adopted lax in the late 1300s, at first describing the body as loose or open, and only later settling into its modern figurative sense of being careless or insufficiently strict about rules and standards. Because the word is spelled exactly as it sounds, its main spelling pitfall is simply choosing 'x' over an incorrect 'cks' or 'cs' ending. Keeping the Latin laxus in mind, with its single, tidy 'x', helps fix the spelling in memory.

How the word is built

• lax (from Latin laxus: loose, slack)